New in PJ Media:
Is World War III seriously in the offing? The risk of escalation was always high in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. In his speech explaining his reasons for invading Ukraine, Putin spoke at length about NATO’s expansion. On Friday, NATO’s response force was activated for the first time. In response, Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian nuclear forces to be put on high alert.
The tendency is not altogether toward escalation. Volodymyr Zelensky’s office has announced that a group of Ukrainian officials is set to meet with their Russian counterparts. Maybe some kind of agreement can be reached that will end this madness. According to CBC, Zelensky’s office said that “the two sides would meet at an unspecified location on the Belarusian border and did not give a precise time for the meeting.”
This was a turnaround from Ukraine’s previous stance that the talks must not take place in Belarus, whose president Alexander Lukashenko is a longtime Putin client. Now Zelensky’s office said that Lukashenko “has taken responsibility for ensuring that all planes, helicopters and missiles stationed on Belarusian territory remain on the ground during the Ukrainian delegation’s travel, talks and return.” We can hope.
Otherwise, however, tensions seem to be ramping up everywhere. Putin on Sunday “ordered the Russian defence minister and the chief of the military’s general staff to put the nuclear deterrent forces in a ‘special regime of combat duty,’ a heightened level of readiness.”
Putin said this was a response to what he characterized as “aggressive statements” by NATO powers. As far back as Feb. 8, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that NATO would present a unified response to Russian aggression against Ukraine: “All the steps we will take we will do together. As the President said, we are preparing for that. You can understand and you can be absolutely sure that Germany will be together with all its allies and especially the United States, that we take the same steps. There will be no differences in that situation.”
All right. But what might those steps be? NATO heads of state and government on Friday declared: “We condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, enabled by Belarus. We call on Russia to immediately cease its military assault, to withdraw all its forces from Ukraine and to turn back from the path of aggression it has chosen.“
And what if Russia does not turn back from its path of aggression? Then NATO will “draw all the necessary consequences for NATO’s deterrence and defence posture. …We have deployed defensive land and air forces in the eastern part of the Alliance, and maritime assets across the NATO area. We have activated NATO’s defence plans to prepare ourselves to respond to a range of contingencies and secure Alliance territory, including by drawing on our response forces.”
There is more. Read the rest here.
sally farmer says
This is outrageous over reach on the part of NATO EU and UK since the Ukraine is not their concern and is not a member of NATO. In effect they are the invaders of the Ukraine as many Ukrainians will quickly discover.I wonder who’s side they will then be on? Take note Ukraine of what happened to so many countries after Nato had driven them to the ground leaving the occupants with extreme poverty and a useless infrastructure to cope with.. Are you all stark raving mad? Eight years of murdering unwanted Russian related Ukrainians in the Donbass is about to come back for revenge.
Politicallyincorrectistruth says
Are you retarded? Live under a rock? Don’t watch TV?
NATO is increasing forces in eastern member states in case Putin decides to keep invading west onto NATO member states. Nothing over-reach about that.
EU (including Germany),USA,Australia, will buy and supply weapons to Ukraine.
Richard Spencers article leaves out crucial information of what EU and NATO really said in front of media. Was that deliberate on his part or did he also not watch what the EU and NATO said?
gravenimage says
Politicallyincorrectistruth, the claim that this article is by *Richard Spencer*–a neo-Nazi, instead of Robert Spencer, an Anti-Jihadist, is completely mistaken.
Infidel says
Why has NATO been expanding eastwards w/o including Russia, who did wanna join in the 90s but was declined? They’ve decided to treat Russia as nothing more than the successor state of the Soviet Union, even in the department of replacement enemy. This is very different from when the Soviets were set on World Revolution: Russia did not have any territorial ambitions aside from Crimea, but the constant expansion of NATO, as well as NATO’s own acts, like dismembering Serbia contributed to their partly justified paranoia
And in the process, we’ve even driven them into the arms of Beijing, who they are wary of. In fact, the latest stupidity was sharing intel on Ukraine w/ Beijing, who then shared it w/ Russia. People in our government need to be lined up and shot for treason!
gravenimage says
Actually, Infidel, Russia has threatened Georgia, Ukraine, and Poland–including sending Muslim migrants to the Polish border. The idea that Russia has threatened no one beyond Crimea is I’m afraid not the case.
gravenimage says
Ah, yes–how “outrageous” to say anything critical about unprovoked aggression? And the idea that criticizing the invasion of Ukraine is actually an invastion itself? Talk about projection!
And what nations has NATO supposedly ruined? Note that sally farmer here unsurprisingly does not say.
Infidel says
I liked Zelensky rejecting the idea of Ukrainian officials meeting the Russians in Belarus, which is a vassal of Russia in this war and even offered to join it. I didn’t like his alternatives of Istanbul or Baku: maybe either Budapest or Jerusalem would have been a better alternative, since Hungary, though a part of NATO, has been leaning towards Russia on this issue
And although Olaf Scholz is new, his statement lacks credibility, given that his party has been at the forefront of promoting the Nordstream pipeline: in fact, Gerhard Schroeder has been on Gasprom’s board of directors (not sure whether he still is). So right now, NATO is one of the worst platforms to confront Russia, given that they’d be expected to act if Russia moves against, say Latvia.
Like I’ve said elsewhere, it’s time to disband NATO and then deal w/ the Russians. It satisfies the Russian demand that Ukraine not be a part of NATO, but at the same time, reject the Russian demand that Ukraine not receive western arms. Arm Ukraine to the teeth w/o putting any Western troops there: that should work. I am ambivalent on whether Ukraine should be armed w/ nukes
sally farmer says
Why arrange a meeting ? Far safer just to turn up. Do you know that they will all do what they are ordered to do ? Do you really think that the big time organizers of this shameful attack on some of the poorest people on the globe in the Dombass who live for this years crop of garden grown tomatoes? are next to the action? Aren’t people like that underneath mountains in spacious bunkers with their immoral little fat fingers hovering over their nuclear buttons?
gravenimage says
The Ukraine does not have nukes, if this is what you are trying to imply here.
rbla says
Putin has clearly become a war criminal and must be curbed. However there is an unfortunate precedent set for him by none other than the “liberal compassionate” Clinton administration. The point often made is that Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty must be protected even over the Russian population of its East. Well guys, all I can say is Kosovo.
Infidel says
Precisely! The strongest argument against NATO is that all they have done since the end of the Cold War has either been to destabilize countries like Libya, or dismember countries like Serbia. While I support Ukraine, Russia is absolutely right to demand that NATO not expand any further, or they’ll be in striking distance of Moscow. And I for one don’t trust NATO, given their track record, especially under Democrat presidents
john smith says
As much as I dislike Putin this war may well of been avoided if NATO wasn’t so hell bent on expansion.
NATO’S largest nuclear arsenal is deployed in Turkey, it was put there for one reason only, and that was they,d seen the Soviet union as a threat during the cold war. You have to look at things through the eyes of Putin and the Russian people, the last thing they want is another previous member of the USSR going over to the side of there perceived enemy. If Ukraine came part of NATO, what would be stopping NATO from deploying there nuclear arsenal in the Ukraine who’s border is only 300 miles from Moscow.
gravenimage says
Actually, Ukraine has never been offered NATO membership as Putin pretends.
john smith says
At the June 2021 Brussels Summit, NATO leaders reiterated the decision taken at the 2008 Bucharest Summit that Ukraine would become a member of the Alliance with the Membership Action Plan (MAP) as an integral part of the process and Ukraine’s right to determine its own future and foreign policy.
Obviously Gravenimage these aren’t my words, I’ve just copied what I read.
gravenimage says
John, I am aware of this. This was, as I understand it, an offer to begin the application process, not a guarantee of admission.
Infidel says
True, but there have been 5 NATO expansions since the Cold War, but Russia was excluded from every one of them! No country would feel safe at such a development
gravenimage says
Escalation: Putin Puts Russia’s Nuclear Forces on High Alert
………………
Hope this is just saber rattling. Just nuts in any case.
David Foot says
In 1994 according to the Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine the third nuclear power on the planet would give up its nuclear weapons, its Black Sea Fleet and become a neutral state with only about 20K soldiers.
The guarantee of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and peace was given by the signatories of the memorandum: USA, UK, France and Russia and where are those guarantees now?
UK must NEVER disarm it was treason, betrayal of Ukraine in 2014 and 2022 by all of us we should be ashamed of what we have done to Ukraine! We don’t even give them a no fly zone, we allowed Russia to steal Crimea and to “invent” Sudeten style problems in Donbass which Hitler’s pupil Putin uses today!
THE WEST HAS BROKEN ITS WORD TO A DECENT AND BRAVE COUNTRY! We chose dishonour to avoid war, then we will get dishonour AND we will also get the war! (Churchill to Chamberlain 1939)
It is a fate cowards deserve.
gravenimage says
All grimly true.